PM1500 programming questions

[kf4sqb]

The VFD I'm a member of just bought a new PM1500 to go in our new tanker. The radio is VHF conventional, and will be set up as dual head. I don't think it would cause the problem we're having, but we only have one head hooked up so far, and the CPS is already set for dual heads. The chief and I both have radio programming experience, but this one has us stumped. Put simply, how in the #$!! do you program the control head buttons? When we open the control head window in the CPS (R15.00.00), the four buttons under the display are blank. If we click on one of the buttons, it "presses" with the click, but nothing happens. We've gone into the display & menu/menu items window and added items to the selected window, but this makes no difference. We've tried checking the CPS help files, but they are pretty much useless. They tell all about what the menu functions are and what they do, and give a very detailed explanation of prerequisites for each function, but tell absolutely nothing about how to assign functions to buttons. The first (left-hand) button is (by default, I believe) set for zone (the control head display reflects this, the CPS doesn't), the other three are blank. Any ideas?

[Jim202]

1. Read the radio.

2. Go to the + sign at the start of the "Radio Configuration" line and left click on it.

3. Double left click on the "Display Menu" selection.

4. Go to the "Menu Items" tab and left click on it.

5. Scroll trough the list of items you want to put on the control head. Left click on each item and then use the "ADD" selection to put them on the right side. You can carefully select the items in the sequence you want them to show up on the head. They will start from the left side. If you mess up and get them out of order, you can still move them with the move up or down blocks on the right. Don't forget you need to select the item before you can move it.


Bear in mind that the menu items you selected need to be active features for the personality your in. Like you need a scan list to be available before the radio will let you have the scan show up on the control head. You need a repeater pair in the frequency set up before you can use the direct button for talk around. A little common sense here goes a long ways.

Jim

[kf4sqb]

Yeah, thats what I thought, too. I've done that, and still no joy. I've tried to put scan (yes, there is a scan list set up), nusiance channel delete (again, the feature is enabled), program (user select scan is turned on, so this should be allowed), and intercom (it is programmed for dual head, and intercom is enabled) in, but the display on the head never changes to reflect it. Any more ideas?

[escomm]

I don't see how intercom will work with only one head hooked up. Try hooking up the second head or reverting the codeplug to single head and report results.

[Jim202]

Yeah, thats what I thought, too. I've done that, and still no joy. I've tried to put scan (yes, there is a scan list set up), nusiance channel delete (again, the feature is enabled), program (user select scan is turned on, so this should be allowed), and intercom (it is programmed for dual head, and intercom is enabled) in, but the display on the head never changes to reflect it. Any more ideas?

Does your personality have the scan list selected? If it is blank, you won't be able to use the scan list.

Jim

[kf4sqb]

Escomm, I understand the intercom, won't work with only one head, but I would think I should be able to program the function to a button as long as it is programmed for dual heads. From what I understand, if the radio doesn't have "prerequisites" programmed, like multiple control heads for intercom, the feature won't even be available for selection in the menu item selection screen. It is in the list, I have it selected. It just won't program the feature to the head. I have thought about hooking up the second head, just to see if it makes a difference, but haven't tried it yet. May do so later this week.

Jim, the scan list is indeed selected for the personality.

At this point, I really hate CPS. Give me RSS any day!!!

[escomm]

CPS will allow you to add it to the menu list but it will not be accessible through the soft menu keys,

[kf4sqb]

And therein lies my problem. How do I assign functions to the buttons? What was the point in putting them on the head if they can't be programmed for anything?

[akardam]

You don't assign functions to each button specifically. There's a reason they're called soft menu buttons.

When you configure the list of menu items (for simplicity's sake we'll say you're only dealing with conventional), the radio goes one by one down the list and decides if that menu items needs to be displayed. If it does, it uses the next available soft menu button. For example, let's say you had the following menu items defined in CPS:

ZONE
SCAN
PWR
DIR

You're on a channel that does not have scan enabled, and does not have talkaround enabled. So, you'd see:

Code: Select all

ZONE PWR
[  ] [  ] [  ] [  ]

Because the SCAN and DIR menu items are not applicable, they don't get displayed.

In your case, if you don't have both heads hooked up, the radio knows this and won't display the applicable dual head menu items. Make sense?